Medical treatment today has made vast strides over what was available at the end of the last century. As an example, children born today have an average life expectancy 30 years longer than their ancestors born in the same decade last century. Much of this increased longevity can be attributed to improved health care, including surgical techniques of modern medicine and the sanitary methods employed in hospitals today.
Because of the very nature of hospitals, i.e. concentrating sick people in one location, preventing the spread of infectious diseases is a major challenge. Some of the most virulent strains of staphylococcus are most commonly found in hospitals. One of the areas of greatest concern is the modern operating room (OR). In this environment, any infection present may be contracted by a patient and potentially spread throughout a ward. More likely, however, is the spread of infection through contamination of the floor or other surfaces which must be cleaned between operations. This contamination may then be spread by the many doctors, nurses, assistants and janitorial personnel who frequent the OR. Therefore, hospitals today have instituted procedures in accordance with the Association of OR Nurses (AORN) wherein the cleaning staff thoroughly cleans the OR, including mopping and disinfecting the floor after each procedure. An OR nurse is responsible for ensuring that the OR meets standards of cleanliness.
The prior art method of mopping an OR floor most frequently involves the use of a cleaning and germicidal agent applied from a mop bucket with a conventional washable cotton fiber mop head, attached to a reusable mop handle. Ideally, the AORN OR floor cleaning procedure is: (a) a "clean" (new or freshly laundered) mop head is dipped once into a clean bucket containing the cleaning and germicidal liquid, (b) the mop head is supersaturated, (c) the entire OR floor is mopped and left wet, (d) the wet germicide has time to kill at least a portion of the bacteria within which the germicide comes in contact, (e) the mop head is removed from the handle and (f) the mop head is placed in the washable laundry without being physically touched by, or splashing, the cleaning staff. The goal is that the mop not be returned to the bucket once the mop has touched the contaminated floor.
In practice however, it is probably more common (than anyone would care to admit) that the mop is returned to the mop bucket after cleaning the floor. The mop and bucket then await completion of the next procedure, or are moved to the next OR, and are reused. At least one study of purchase records of hospital mop heads and laundry records shows that there was definitely not a one-to-one ratio of clean mop heads to procedures performed. This practice clearly promotes potential cross-contamination of rooms and ultimately patients.
At least four methods of attaching a cloth mop head to the mop handle are in use today. The classic mop handle has a metal or plastic stirrup through which the mop head is threaded, and the stirrup is then tightened down on the mop headband, holding the mop head in place. This mop handle is not suitable for applications in which the mop head is frequently changed. A variation of the stirrup design involves a hinged side gate on the stirrup which, when released, allows the mop head to be slid on or off of the handle. This allows for much faster changing of the mop head. A third method of attaching the mop head to the handle employs a pair of jaws which open and close over the headband and which are operated by a twist ring. The Rubbermaid Corporation manufactures a mopstick of this type under the name QUICKDROP.RTM..
A fourth variety of handle requires a specially-constructed mop head with a male threaded bolt as the attachment mechanism. In this case, the mop handle comprises an internally threaded end to which the mating male threaded bolt in the specialty mop head is attached. Various other specialty mops with self-wringing features are also available on the market; however, they are not generally used in the medical arena due primarily to the complexity of removing/replacing the mop head. Therefore, the mops principally in use in hospital ORs are some form of the classic stirrup handle, or the QUICKDROP.RTM., and a mop head with a bound headband.
No matter how the mop head is attached to the handle, the possibility exists that an exposed mop head will drip or spray contaminated germicide or other material on people or objects around the mop head. Employee safety is therefore a concern in handling exposed mop heads.
The most common mop head material is cotton. The mop head yarn may consist of numerous parallel pieces of yarn with cut ends bound with a central headband, i.e. a cut-end mop head. Alternatively, the mop head may be one continuous piece of yarn which is formed into parallel loops with the two yarn ends bound under a central headband, i.e. a loop-end mop head. One variation of the traditional free-end mop head is the web foot (fantail) mop head. In this embodiment, a tailband is attached distal from the headband and one to two inches from the end of the mop yarn. This spreads the yarn into a fantail, and reduces tangling and fraying of the yarn when the mop head is laundered. This variation enjoys popularity with some hospitals. Although the yarn mop is the most common, some mop heads today are made of a flat cloth-like or chamois-like material.
Although this method of cleaning OR floors has obviously been widely used, several problems with the procedure are evident. First, laundry of the mop head is dependent upon the mop head being placed in the washable laundry. This is not a 100% certain occurrence, as the cleaning staff may forget and leave the mop in the bucket when it is placed in the janitorial closet (referred to as the hopper room), opening the possibility of cross-contamination. Second, the applied germicidal mixture is dependent upon the cleaning staff properly mixing the concentrate and water. Because of the strong odor of the mixture, experience has shown that the cleaning staff does not always mix the germicide at the full recommended concentration. Third, the contaminated mop can very easily be reused in the same or another OR, creating cross-contamination. Fourth, the contaminated mop head must be stored until it is taken to the laundry, again opening the possibility of cross-contamination. Fifth, when the mop head is removed the cleaning staff must handle the contaminated mop head to remove it from the stirrup, introducing a chance of contaminating the cleaning staff. Sixth, mop heads made from cut end yarn, although cheaper than loop-end yarn, tend to fray, unravel, and shed lint. Lint is particularly undesirable because it may act as an airborne vector thereby transmitting bacteria residing upon it. Seventh, cut end yarn holds less liquid and has significantly shorter useable life than loop-end yarn. Eighth, laundering is expensive.
From an economic standpoint, the classic yarn mop heads are a significant expense. In addition to acquisition cost (and the added acquisition cost of attendant hardware, such as mop buckets, wringers and the like), there is the continuing cost of laundering the mop heads. The purchase cost of a reusable mop head is approximately $10. When combined with the cost of laundering the mop head (approximately $4.00 per wash), and the estimated useable life expectancy of a mop head (ten washings), the average cost per procedure of just the mop head is approximately $5. When multiplied times an estimated 100 procedures per day with 20 work days per month, an average hospital thus incurs an overhead cost on the order of $10,000 per month just for cleaning OR floors. Also, the mop heads are a reusable supply item which requires inventory control. Significantly, since the washable mop heads can be reused and are not issued for a specific OR procedure, the mop heads are an overhead expense to the hospital and cannot be charged to a particular patient. If the mop heads are disposable after one use, they may be allocated against a specific procedure and patient, and the cost of the item thus passed on to the patient.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a single use germicidal mop head which can be detached from the mop handle without contaminating the janitorial staff. Further, what is needed in the art is a cleaning system that does not rely on buckets or other attendant hardware.